


I'm Yours

by MarzoftheStars



Series: Sleep Issues [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Keith goes through some SHIT, M/M, Ooooh man so much angst, Other, but its okay because it's, but the Boys are there to help each other out, meaning he FINALLY talks about his suicide attempt with someone, painful beautiful horrible wonderful mush, there is a mental breakdown or two, this is tooth rotting MUSH
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 17:19:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14406816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarzoftheStars/pseuds/MarzoftheStars
Summary: ((This is the second part to that lil drabble I wrote a while ago, but it can be read on its own so don't worry if you haven't/don't want to read it))-Keith gets caught trying to cope on his own, and Lance is having None Of That.





	1. Another Bonding Moment

**Author's Note:**

> I know I said I was gonna post this like a month ago, but bear with me here. I'm bad at literally everything. Also, I used SO MANY disgustingly sappy petnames in here because I use so many disgustingly sappy petnames in real life. I'm projecting. I do that a lot. Sorry.  
> -  
> Uh,, as always this is unbeta-ed so lemme know if there are any mistakes! Enjoy~

 

Keith couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t exactly a  _ new _ occurrence, but it did get a bit exhausting sometimes, especially since Shiro and Allura had been working the team's’ collective asses off for the past month. 

It was around three in the morning, and he had somehow managed to sneak past Shiro _ and _ Pidge’s rooms without waking either of the extremely light sleepers. He was pretty proud of himself for that. He crept past Hunk’s room to grab Lance’s guitar (which he’d found on one of the planets they had visited and cried  _ actual  _ tears until Allura let him buy it) from the back corner of the living area, pulling it gently from its case and making his way towards the planetarium with its strap swung across his shoulder. Hunk snored softly as he passed his room again, and Keith wasn’t very worried about him waking up. Guy slept like a rock. 

He hadn’t heard Lance snoring as loudly as usual, but he didn’t think twice about its absence. The blue paladin wouldn’t be up at this hour. He always complained about needing his “beauty sleep”. 

_ As if he needs it, he’s attractive enough as is.  _

Keith blinked at the sudden thought, shaking his head a little to clear his mind.  _ Gods.  _ He really was tired if he was thinking about  _ Lance McClain _ being  _ attractive. _ He sighed in relief as the planetarium’s door quietly slid shut behind him, leaving him alone in the huge, dome-shaped room of glass with only the guitar and his own thoughts to keep him company. 

He crossed to the other side of the room and flopped down into one of the green beanbag chairs, pushing his hair out of his face and tying it up into a very messy half-bun with the band on his wrist. Resting the instrument against his left thigh, he leaned back into the beanbag with a sigh and let his gaze sweep across the endless expanse of space above him, taking in the trillions of glowing stars surrounding the ship.  

The strings of the faded blue guitar sent gentle vibrations through his fingers, playfully traveling up his arms as he strummed the beginning chords to Jason Mraz’s  _ I’m Yours. _ The instrument hummed against Keith’s chest as his hands danced across the frets, connecting the notes easily and fluidly as though he’d been playing the song his entire life. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs completely before letting his voice fill the empty room.

“ _ Well, you done done me, and you bet I felt it. I tried to be chill, but you’re so hot that I melted, I fell right through the cracks. Now I’m trying to get back… _ ” 

Dimly shimmering stars spread lazily across the sky outside the window, throbbing softly to the beat. A pair of comets danced slowly across Keith’s vision, his fingers carefully picking out the correct strings as he continued the song, a small smile gracing his tired features as he watched the universe drift peacefully by. 

“ _ Before the cool done run out, I’ll be giving it my bestest. And nothing’s gonna stop me but divine intervention. I reckon it’s again my turn, to win some or learn some, but I won’t hesitate no more, no more. It cannot wait, I’m- _ ”

“- _ I’m yours.”  _

Keith’s eyes immediately darted to where the other voice had come from, his fingers quickly ceasing their strumming as panic rose in his throat. 

_ Lance  _ was leaning against the doorway ( _ how long had he been there?! _ ), arms crossed lazily over his chest as his eyes roamed over the red paladin’s exhausted form. A flash of insecurity sparked in Keith’s chest as Lance’s face dropped into a small frown at the sight of his dirty t-shirt hanging loosely on his frame and the deep purple bags beneath his eyes. He knew he looked like shit, but Lance didn’t have to look at him like  _ that.  _

“.. What are you doing here?” he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and looking back out the windows to his right (avoiding eye contact).

“Jesus, Mullet,” Lance sighed, pushing himself off the doorway and stepping towards his beanbag. He reluctantly scooted over to make room, but Lance didn’t sit next to him. Instead, he stopped directly in front of him, gently tapping his left foot against the ground. He hesitantly looked up at him, expecting another stern frown, or some sort of verbal scolding from the taller boy for interrupting his sleep so late at night. 

Lance reached down suddenly, resting a hand just above Keith’s jaw and gently rubbing his thumb across his cheekbone, tapping his chin to make him look up. “Why aren’t you asleep,  _ Lindo _ ?” Keith’s glare softened, but he pulled his face back from Lance’s hand. 

“I.. Lance, I’m fine, really. Go back to bed.” He tried putting on a reassuring smile, but Lance wasn’t having it. He reached down and pulled the guitar from Keith’s hands, slipping the strap over his shoulders and resting it gently against the couch behind him. 

“No way _ ,  _ Keefers. I’m gonna ask again, why aren’t you sleeping? It’s late, and you need rest just as much as the rest of us. Training starts early again tomorrow, remember?” He lowered himself onto the beanbag next to Keith, moving the hand that had been resting on his cheek to lay behind his shoulders instead. 

“Don’t make this weird,” he muttered, but Keith barely had time to register the meaning of his words before Lance’s arm tightened around his waist. He froze as he found himself being pulled into Lance’s chest. Pushing away any unwelcome thoughts, he let herself relax against the blue paladin, taking a deep breath and watching Lance’s fingers rub small circles into his hip. 

Keith could faintly feel his heart beating, and he snuggled closer, breathing in the scent of cinnamon and coconut. He knew he was blushing pretty intensely from the fact that he was pressed so close to Lance, but if he burrowed deeper into his chest then he wouldn’t be able to see it. Right?

“...  _ Nightmares,”  _ he finally mumbled into Lance’s shirt. Then he blinked at his sudden confession, his eyes widening in surprise. He hadn’t  _ actually  _ planned on telling anyone about them, but...  _ Lance.  _

“Nightmares?” Lance repeated, his tone suddenly much darker than before. Keith could feel him tensing up, and wondered if maybe he  _ shouldn’t  _ have told him his reason for not being asleep.  “... Keith, why didn’t you tell anyone earlier?”

The red paladin scoffed, ducking his head lower into Lance’s chest and twining his fingers together in his lap. “Nobody needed to know. I was dealing with them  _ just fine _ on my own.” 

“Okay, _o_ _ bviously  _ you weren’t!” Lance’s voice was suddenly much louder, and Keith shrank back into himself, surprised at the anger in his tone. 

_ Shouldn’t have told him, shouldn’t have told him, shouldn’t have told him-  _

“You’ve been  _ exhausted  _ lately, your performance during training sessions has been lacking  _ immensely _ , and the bags under your eyes are dark enough to be smudged eyeliner.” Keith scowled at his words.

“Thanks for pointing that out, “ he growled, reaching up to rub at the dark circles beneath his eyes. 

“I’m not trying to be an asshole right now, Keith. I’m just saying I h- um. I  _ do  _ actually care about you, and… And it kinda sucks to see you like this. You’re not happy, and you’re tired all the time. You should talk about what’s going on.” Lance retracted his arm from behind Keith’s shoulders and scratched the back of his neck, a small crease appearing between his brows. 

“Like I said before,  _ I’m fine. _ ” he repeated, glowering at a darker area on the floor in front of his left foot. 

“ _ Carino _ , you  _ gotta _ tell someone if something’s wrong. You can’t keep everything bottled up like you always do!”

Keith sat straight up, turning to look Lance in the eye. 

“I’ve been doing it ever since I can remember and no one’s even cared enough to approach me about it until now, so just  _ drop it _ . I know what I’m doing _. I don’t need your help _ ,” he spat venomously, his eyes flashing a bright shade of yellow instead of their usual grey colour. Lance blinked in surprise, leaning further back into the couch behind them.

A shock of regret ran down Keith’s spine. He knew Lance hated it when he tried to scare him by going Galra, but if it got him to leave him alone and stop badgering him about his well-being, then  _ so be it.  _

But instead of standing and walking out the door, like Keith had expected, Lance reached forward, grabbed onto his shoulders, and pulled him in again. He collided into his chest with a soft  _ oomph _ and blinked in confusion as Lance wrapped his arms around him and hugged him tightly, resting his chin atop his head.

“Quit trying to scare me off.  _ Not _ gonna work,” he mumbled, a hand snaking up Keith’s back and carding gently through his messy hair. Heaving out a deep sigh, Keith cautiously wound his arms around Lance’s back, allowing himself to melt into the comfort of the taller boy’s warmth. 

“Look,” Lance took a deep breath, letting it out with a sigh, “I know that you and I haven’t had the _ best  _ relationship on the team, and I might seem like kind of a douchebag, but I also know that you don’t trust anyone else enough to tell them what’s going on yet. I’m probably the  _ last _ person you wanted to find you tonight, and Shiro probably would’ve done a lot better than I am at trying to comfort you, since, you know, he knows you better, but I’m worried about you.”

“Lance, I-” 

“No no, let me explain,” the blue paladin held up a hand, effectively cutting Keith off. “So, I never  _ actually  _ hated you.” He glanced down at Keith’s snort and smiled softly. “ _ Sure _ , you pretended to not remember who I was, insulted my awesome attempts at flirting, and acted like kind of an asshole at first, but I never hated you. I actually thought you were pretty cool, and I.. really wanted to be friends with you. I’ve never met anyone like you. You noticed things about me that nobody ever has before, like, without even trying! I mean, usually I’m pretty good at hiding my insecurities and shit, but you just… saw right through me. I think…” Lance paused, taking a breath. “I think that the reason I acted like I hated you was because I hated the way you were making me feel, and needed some way to let it out.” 

Keith glanced up in surprise at Lance’s words, his fingers ceasing their fidgeting in his lap. Lance was blushing, avoiding his eyes as he reached up to run a hand through his choppy brown hair. Awkwardly clearing his throat, he continued;

“So after I noticed your performance during training starting to lack, I started paying more attention to how  _ you  _ were feeling. At first, I was  _ totally  _ ready to make fun of you for it, but then I saw the bags under your eyes. You looked  _ exhausted,  _ but you were still holding everything together, so I left it alone. Hunk mentioned it to me a few days later, but I dismissed it as you just waking up too early to train again. Now, I see what you’ve  _ really _ been doing.” He paused his stroking of Keith’s hair to gesture around the planetarium. 

“I was trying to think of ways to upgrade Blue so I could perform as well as everyone else during battle when I heard the guitar. It was faint, but it sounded really pretty, so I decided to get up and see where it was coming from. I didn’t even know this room existed until I heard you. When the door opened, I saw you and I…” Lance choked out a small laugh, his blush reappearing. “I almost gasped out loud. You looked more at peace than I’d ever seen you before, sitting surrounded by stars and singing along to Jason Mraz, and... it made me  _ mad _ . I didn’t want you to have to deal with everything that we have to deal with right now, especially with Shiro acting all weird and the rest of the team arguing over everything and the Blade of McDonalds trying to get you back.” Keith couldn’t help but snort at Lance’s misuse of the Blade’s name. “And now that I know that this is where you come every night, I’m even angrier, because we made you feel like you couldn’t come to us for help. You came here  _ all by yourself _ , and I’m just…  _ Deja que te ayude.  _ Please, Keith. Let me help you.” 

Keith was, to put it frankly, stunned.  _ Why was Lance telling him all of this? _ He’d refused to let him worry for his well-being, pushed him away when he tried to help, and snapped at him all in the time frame of five minutes. If he were in Lance’s position, he would have walked out a long time ago. Instead, Lance chose to stay with him. Comfort him. Tell him that he actually  _ cared  _ for him.  _ Keith. _ Why was he still here?

“...  _ Okay _ ,” he whispered into the blue paladin’s shoulder, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. 

There was a pause, and then Lance was pulling away from him, eyebrows raised questioningly. 

“Really?”

“... I mean, if you wanna just go back to bed that’s perfectly fine because I-” 

“Nononono no. No. I just poured my heart out to you. I’m staying here, and you’re gonna tell me all about these nightmares, and we’re gonna work this out together. We’re a _ team _ , and we gotta have each other’s backs, right? I don’t want you dealing with anything alone anymore. You have me.” He smiled then, gentle and sweet, and Keith felt his heart beating faster.

“Thank you.”

Lance’s smile faded, and he leaned a little lower to look directly into Keith’s eyes. “So, what are these nightmares about, exactly?” He asked cautiously, lowering his voice as well. Keith swallowed. He hadn’t told anyone the reason he hadn’t been sleeping, and he honestly hadn’t expected  _ Lance  _ of all people to be the one to get it out of him. But looking back into his concerned gaze, Keith felt his insecurities drifting away and the feeling of trust that had grown over the period of Lance’s rant grew even stronger.  

“The mission,” he answered honestly, looking away from Lance and focusing on the fingers twisting together in his lap instead. He knew that the blue paladin would understand which  _ mission  _ he was talking about, and continued without looking up to gauge his reaction. 

“The dreams usually start with the battle. Everything starts out fine. The rebels are kicking Galra ass and everyone’s communicating with each other and you guys are all forming Voltron. Everybody’s working together as a team.” He took another breath, focusing on the gentle sensation of Lance’s fingers swirling lightly over his waist. 

“And then I hear Shiro yelling about the shield through the comms. How Voltron won’t be able to get through, and how you guys are going to have to split up. Everyone is trying to find some way to get past this goddamn shield, but no one’s canons are powerful enough to breach it. Pidge won’t have time to hack through it, and there aren’t any other ways to gain access. The only way to get past it is with some kind of...  _ explosion _ .” Lance’s arms tightened around Keith as he felt the boy start to shiver.

“Everything slows down around me, and that’s when I realize that the only way we’re going to be able to get through this shield is if someone were to smash head-on into it. Obviously I wasn’t going to propose that idea to anyone else, because...” Keith felt tears pricking at the corners of his eyes, and blinked hard to keep them at bay. “Because it would be a suicide mission. Whoever went into this was never coming back out alive. I  _ had  _ to do it. I had to, because I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I had sent someone else to their death. I wouldn’t have been able to live knowing that someone else died when I could have easily taken their place. And... I was totally okay with dying. If it meant keeping everyone else alive and safe, then I would die a hundred times over, without question.” 

Keith knew he was crying now, but did nothing to stop the onslaught of tears. He felt Lance stiffen behind him, his arms tight around Keith’s midsection, and rested a hand atop the blue paladin’s. He wasn’t sure if it was for Lance’s reassurance or his own, but it seemed to calm the both of them enough for Keith to continue.

“The awful part is that I was completely alright with sacrificing myself until it was too late to turn back.” Keith pushed himself away from Lance, turning to look the blue paladin in the eyes as he hunched onto his knees, curling his arms across his chest as if he were trying to hide from something. “The moment I knew it was too late to move out of the way, I regretted my decision more than I’ve ever regretted anything before. I thought about all the things I would miss, like Pidge and Matt finding their dad, or Hunk and Shay finally meeting again, or finding a way to get you back to Earth so you can see your family, and I realized that I really didn’t want to miss out on that. Thinking back to it, I.. I thought I was doing the right thing,” Keith sniffled, not bothering to wipe the constant stream of tears from his face. He was shaking. “I actually thought that me dying would be better than anyone else, but I… I didn’t  _ want  _ to die, Lance. I never wanted to. I only did it because I thought… I thought I was doing the right th-” Keith choked back a wet sob, bringing a fist to his mouth and squeezing his eyes shut. “I-I’m  _ sorry _ ,” He whimpered.

Lance almost froze up. The sight of Keith Kogane, strong,  _ confident  _ Keith, breaking down in front of him like this brought even more tears to his eyes. Willing them away, he swallowed thickly and reached forward to grasp Keith’s shaking hands tightly in his own. 

“Keith,” he said, stooping down so he could see the red paladin’s face clearly. “Keith, listen to me,  _ Corazon _ .”   
  
Slowly, Keith raised his head to meet Lance’s gaze. His eyes were red and puffy, and his hands were still shaking in Lance’s grip. The tears weren’t stopping, but he wasn’t crying as hard as he had been before, so Lance took it as his sign to continue. 

“ _ It’s okay to be not okay _ ,” he whispered, letting go of one of Keith’s hands to wipe at a few fresh tears on the boy’s cheek. “You don’t need to apologize for anything, Keith. Not for  _ anything _ . If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me for not noticing you needed help earlier than this.” 

“N-no, Lance, it’s oka-”

“Nope. I don’t care if you were trying to hide it, or if you wanted to keep it from everyone. I should have known. You always seemed to know when something was up with me, and I should’ve been there for you. I’m sorry, Keith.” Lance tugged gently at Keith’s hand, relaxing as the red paladin took a deep breath. The tears had stopped, but he was still pretty shaky. Before Lance could do anything to comfort him, Keith spoke again.

“I was so scared, Lance.” His voice was barely a whisper. “I was so  _ scared _ .”

Brushing Keith’s bangs back off his face, Lance ran his thumb along the edge of the shorter boy’s lower lip, trying to loosen up his frown. “I’m so,  _ so  _ sorry you had to go through that Keith. I wish you would’ve confided in us before acting on anything, but I get it. You’re impulsive. That’s what I’m here for, though.”

“What do you mean?”   
  
“Remember back when you piloted Black and chased after Lotor and almost left the rest of the team behind?” Lance asked, his thumb still tugging at the corners of Keith’s lip. The red paladin nodded meekly. “And so you must remember when you came and talked to me while the team was split up, and I helped you figure out what to do.” Keith nodded again. Lance glanced down at his and Keith’s joined hands, avoiding the red paladin’s eyes as he felt a light blush make its way across his cheeks. “Let me help you again,  _ please _ . Whenever you feel that impulse,  _ talk to me _ . I know we still have a lot to learn about each other, but from what I’ve experienced with you, I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to help you through just about anything. Just like how  _ you’re  _ able to help  _ me  _ through just about anything. I’ve got your back, Mullet, and I always will.”

Keith was quiet long enough that Lance almost thought he’d fallen asleep, but before he gathered the nerve to glance up at him again, Keith was throwing himself at him. Burying his face into the crevice between Lance’s shoulder and neck, his arms reached up and wrapped securely around his shoulders, and he almost toppled backwards with the force of the hug. 

“ _ Lance,”  _ he groaned into his neck, wiggling his way into the startled blue paladin’s lap. “Lance, Lance,  _ Lance,  _ oh my  _ God. _ ” Lance finally gained some movement back in his limbs, and slowly wound an arm around Keith’s shoulders, blinking with wide eyes and blushing profusely as he held them up with his other hand.  _ Had Keith always been this physical?! _

“Thank you _.  _ I should’ve talked about this  _ sooner _ , I hadn’t realized how much stress I was putting on myself keeping that all in. I’m so glad the guitar woke you up.” His voice is muffled by Lance’s shoulder, and his breath tickles his skin. “Thank you. I just.. I should have known that you would be able to help me. You always have. Lance,  _ thank  _ you.”

“Stop thanking me,” Lance finally managed to squeak out. The red paladin froze as he realized the position he’d put them in, mortification shoving back his feelings of appreciation. 

“Sorry, it’s just…” Keith pulled back, turning to climb out of Lance’s lap with a blush redder than his lion, but the taller boy held him in place by resting his hands on his hips and pushing down lightly. “... I’ve never had anyone to talk to about stuff like this,” he finished quietly, suddenly unable to look away from Lance’s eyes.  _ How are they so blue?  _

Shiro had always been a sort of pillar for Keith to lean on, but they’d never had conversations as deep as the one he and Lance just had. It just wasn’t something they ever did together. Their relationship was more of a silent comfort, a hand on your shoulder to steady you when you needed it. 

“You have me now.” Lance’s voice interrupted Keith’s thoughts, and he glanced back up to see him smiling softly at him, the gentle light from the stars making Lance’s face glow in the dim setting. “I’ve already explained how I basically trust you with my life _ ,  _ you can at least trust me to be there for you when you need me,” his smile turned into more of a smirk, but his sentence wasn’t at all teasing. Keith decided something then, watching Lance’s blue eyes gleam in the light of the universe above them as they sat tangled together on the green beanbag on the floor of the planetarium. 

“Sleep with me.”

“W- _ what?! _ ” Lance yelped, his cheeks instantly turning red as he gaped at his fellow paladin. 

“Wait no no  _ no _ wait no,  _ not like that _ !” He corrected himself, a deep red flush overtaking his features once more as he watched Lance stammer beneath him. “I mean…” he hesitated before saying, “I haven’t slept in like, two months because these goddamn nightmares just  _ won’t leave me alone  _ and I thought that maybe sleeping in the same room with someone I trust  _ with my life _ would help to keep them away, and-” 

“Wait wait  _ wait _ , you haven’t slept in  _ two months?  _ And you didn’t think to  _ talk to someone about it?! _ Mullet  _ oh my God, _ come here.” With that, Lance scooped him up in his arms and climbed to his feet, stepping over the beanbag and flopping down clumsily onto the couch. Keith landed on top of him, and Lance immediately flipped him to his side and curled around him, spooning him from behind. 

“Lance. What are you doing?” He asked slowly, raising an eyebrow as Lance curled one of his legs around Keith’s.

“ _Mmph_. I’m sleeping with you. Too lazy to walk us back to my room. Couch is fine. Now _go to sleep_ , _mi Amado,_ ” he replied into Keith’s hair, wrapping his arms tighter around his torso. Keith’s heart fluttered. 

“... Hey, Lance?” He asked quietly after a minute of silence. 

“Hmm?” Lance mumbled, lifting his face out of Keith’s hair to nuzzle his nose against his cheek. 

“.. Well… If I  _ do  _ get one of my nightmares tonight, I-”

“Hey hey, don’t worry about it,  _ Carino. _ I’ll protect you,” he interrupted, wrapping his hand around Keith’s own and squeezing reassuringly. Keith couldn’t stop the flustered smile spreading across his face. He whispered a soft “thank you” before rolling back over and tracing the tips of his fingers over Lance’s knuckles. 

He fell asleep more content than he’d ever been that night, and, for once in a long time, he couldn’t remember having a single nightmare.

 


	2. The Beans are Spilled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up and facing consequences together~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a lot shorter than yesterday's update, but oh well. Let me know if there are any mistakes, and enjoy~

_ “...-t them?” _

_ “.. yeah, I think we found them!”  _

Keith wrinkled his nose, and he heard his pillow groan groggily beneath him. 

_ “-thought _ they’d be in here, it was the only place we hadn’t checked.”

He snuggled deeper into his pillow, breathing deeply and trying to block out Coran’s voice. It was  _ way  _ too early to start training, even for him. 

“Woah, are they…  _ cuddling? _ ” Wait.. what was  _ Pidge  _ doing in his bedroom? 

He slowly cracked open his eyes to see Lance’s peacefully sleeping face lying mere _ inches _ from his own. Half Keith’s body was hanging off the edge of the couch, and the only thing keeping him up was Lance’s arms, which were wrapped tightly around his waist. Suddenly, last night rushed back into his memories and he was instantly wide awake. Lance shifted slightly, his eyebrows scrunching together before his blue eyes opened sleepily. 

“.. _ Mornin’, _ ” he grumbled hoarsely, reaching up to rub at his face. The movement of his arm caused Keith to slip the few centimeters that Lance had been holding him up, and he tumbled to the ground with a soft “ _ ooph _ ”. 

“Shit,” Lance gasped, sitting up and running a hand through his messy hair. 

Hunk’s face appeared over Keith’s own, hovering worriedly over his fallen form as he groaned in pain. Pidge snickered from where she was standing between Shiro and Allura, and Coran held his hand out to him. Keith reached forward and grabbed it, allowing the older man to help him up before immediately sitting back down on the couch, settling himself between Lance’s legs and sighing tiredly. 

“So… What exactly is going on here?” Hunk asked slowly, his eyes darting between Lance and Keith in slight confusion. 

“We didn’t have sex,” Keith blurted, and Lance facepalmed behind him. Pidge’s snickering turned into full-blown laughter, and Allura hid a few giggles behind her hand. The princess rested a hand on Hunk’s shoulder before stepping forward and straightening her back with a bit of authority, clearing her throat before speaking. 

“We’ve been looking for you two all morning. Training was supposed to begin nearly an hour ago. Explain yourselves.” 

Lance suddenly remembered why they were in that situation in the first place and gasped quietly, leaning in and whispering, “ _ nightmares? _ ” in Keith’s ear. The red paladin blinked, thinking back to the night before, and a slow smile crept across his face. 

“Oh my God,” he whispered back, turning to look Lance in the eye. “No!  _ None! _ ” Keith’s smile was contagious and Lance failed to hide his short burst of laughter. 

“What are you guys talking about?” Shiro stepped in, crossing his arms over his chest and glancing between the two with a raised eyebrow. Keith turned back to the team and threw his arms out to his sides, his smile widening. 

“No more nightmares!” He laughed, turning to plant a quick kiss on Lance’s cheek before standing and grabbing the guitar. “Alright I’m ready to start training. Just lemme put this away real quick.” 

Hunk nudged Allura at the immediate blush lighting up Lance’s features and the two exchanged a glance.

“No, absolutely not,” Pidge interjected, holding his hands out in front of him to stop Keith from leaving. “Three questions; first of all, what is this place? Secondly, why were you  _ sleeping with Lance _ ? And third, where the  _ fuck  _ did you get a guitar?!” Keith sighed, gently setting the guitar down and turning back to the rest of the team. 

“This is a planetarium. I couldn’t sleep one night and was wandering around the castle looking for things to do when I stumbled upon this place. Pretty cool, isn’t it?” He answered Pidge’s first question, his eyes flicking up to the trillions of stars surrounding them and a soft smile appearing across his face. 

“Yes yes, very cool, next question please?” Pidge urged her friend, crossing her arms over her chest and looking suspiciously between Keith and Lance, who was now up and standing next to Hunk. 

“The reason I was wandering around the castle was because I couldn’t sleep. I… I’ve been having trouble sleeping for a  _ while  _ now, but Lance and I figured everything out last night and now everything’s fine.” 

Keith reached to grab at the guitar again, mumbling something about putting it away before training, but Pidge pushed at his shoulder until he was sitting back on the couch again. 

“Yeah, no. That explanation wasn’t nearly enough. Lance, sit your ass down next to your boyfriend and give us the deets,” Pidge ordered, pointing at the spot next to Keith and glaring at the blue paladin until he gave in and sat begrudgingly. 

“Yeah, um,  _ actually _ , you know… Maybe don’t give us  _ all  _ the deets?” Hunk spoke up from behind Pidge, wringing his hands together uncomfortably and avoiding eye contact with his friends. Lance blushed again. 

“I told you everything, Pidge. I was having trouble sleeping and Lance helped me figure out why,” Keith explained slowly, raising an eyebrow at his friend as if challenging her to argue. 

“Great! And why is that?” 

Keith groaned, dropping his eyes to the floor and scuffing his feet together. He hadn’t even planned on telling  _ Lance  _ anything, and he  _ definitely  _ didn’t want everyone else knowing about his dumb nightmares. What would the team think of him making such a big deal out of a couple stupid dreams? He’d be a joke!

A hand on his shoulder brought him back from his thoughts and he turned to see Lance eyeing him in concern, his gaze questioning. 

“Alright. Fine,” he sighed, shifting to face everyone else as Lance’s hand slid off his shoulder. He reached down and crossed his pinkie finger with the blue paladin’s, telling himself it was for moral support.

“I’ve been having nightmares about.. that last mission I had with the Blades,” he cut to the chase, squaring his shoulders and meeting Pidge’s eyes. “I woke up at  _ least  _ four times a night, and I got sick of it, so I decided to just… not sleep at all. I was doing fine the first few weeks,-” (“ _ weeks _ ?!” Hunk echoed) “-but then I started messing up in training and falling asleep in the middle of a task. When I found this place, I thought that I might be able to actually sleep up here, because the stars and the quiet and the peacefulness of it all made me feel so at home. I was wrong.” He scowled at the floor, remembering the night he’d so stupidly thought he might be able to fall asleep without any nightmares. 

“Last night is when I heard him playing my guitar,” Lance stepped in, tightening his grip on Keith’s finger. “I wasn’t tired at all, so I decided to get up and see where it was coming from, because it sounded  _ awesome, _ ” he gave Keith a nudge, and he grinned at him. 

“I found him in here, and I got him to tell me what was wrong and why he wasn’t sleeping. He told me that he hasn’t slept in weeks, and I was, quite understandably, worried out of my mind. I haven’t gone more than two days without sleeping, imagine what a few  _ months  _ would be like!” He shuddered. “So I asked if he’d ever tried sleeping with someone else to see if that would work, and he said no, so I offered to try it, and here we are now,” he finished lamely, shrugging his shoulders. 

“... Keith I thought we were  _ friends _ , why didn’t you tell me any of this?” Pidge asked softly, getting down on her knees and forcing Keith to look her in the eye. 

“I didn’t think it was that big of a problem.”    
  
“Oh my God.”    
  
“That’s what I said!” Lance interjected, releasing his hold on Keith's finger to point at Pidge and sending a raised eyebrow towards Keith. Pidge gave him another look and rose to her feet, pursing her lips in thought. Allura was watching Keith with a calculated gaze, Hunk looked concerned, and Shiro and Coran were speaking quietly to one another a ways back from everyone surrounding the couch. 

Keith met Shiro’s eyes and blinked, tilting his head to the side in confusion as the black paladin instantly looked away, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Alright paladins, we were late enough for training when we got here, now we’re going to have to work  _ double time _ to get caught up!” Allura spoke out, pointing the team towards the door and setting her jaw. Keith stood and tried making his way towards Shiro, looking to find out what was wrong, but Allura set a hand on his arm, keeping him behind while everyone else made their way towards the training deck. 

“Keith…” She took a deep breath, “you do know that I’m sorry for the way I treated you when we found out you were part Galra, right?” Allura asked, her voice uncharacteristically gentle as she frowned down at her feet. Keith tilted his head, blinking in confusion.

“... Um, yeah. I know. It's fine, Allura,” he replied, resting his hand on top of the Altean’s and smiling softly. 

“And… and you know that you can talk to me about anything,  _ right _ ?” Allura continued, looking up and meeting Keith’s eyes. Keith raised his eyebrows, surprised at the fact that Allura was actually offering her help with something.    
  
“Thanks, Allura.” The red paladin said warmly, making the princess smile in return. Then she cleared her throat, stepping back and gesturing towards the hatch door. Keith rolled his eyes sarcastically before hopping down and making his way towards the training deck, leaving Allura to shake her head fondly before following. 

She took one last curious glance at the forgotten guitar resting against the couch before deciding that maybe she’d ask Keith to play this earth instrument for her sometime.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the whole Keith and Pidge friendship idea. Like.. why don't they interact more?? Conspiracy buddies??? Where u at, Dreamworks  
> -  
> I'm also currently obsessed with WALK THE MOON right now, so this entire chapter was written while listening to their live album.  
> -  
> 

**Author's Note:**

> I love comments, so go loose, guys.  
> Hmu on Tumblr (my user is marzofthestars, ao3 isn't letting me link anything atm -_-) or Insta (the.purple.paladin) because I'm literally always online. I have no life.  
> -  
> Thank you for reading~


End file.
